FILE - This Jan. 26, 2011 file photo, shows containers of bath salts in Mechanicsburg, Pa. There’s been a two-year surge in the use of synthetic drugs that are made of legal chemicals but mimic the dangerous effects of cocaine, amphetamines and other illegal stimulants. The drugs, which are often sold at corner stores as bath salts, incense and plant food for as little as $15, can trigger bizarre and violent behavior. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Chris Knight, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

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FILE - This Jan. 26, 2011 file photo, shows containers of bath salts in Mechanicsburg, Pa. There’s been a two-year surge in the use of synthetic drugs that are made of legal chemicals but mimic the dangerous effects of cocaine, amphetamines and other illegal stimulants. The drugs, which are often sold at corner stores as bath salts, incense and plant food for as little as $15, can trigger bizarre and violent behavior. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Chris Knight, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

It’s not the stuff Grandma pours into her bathtub. So-called bath salts, a new designer drug that causes euphoria and intense stimulation, has the Navy and Marine Corps running to keep up when drug-testing troops — especially following another recent drug fad, the fake pot known as Spice.

In March, the Navy began random testing for synthetic chemical compounds, specifically Spice, a lab-created marijuana that gained popularity in 2009. It is still working to add “bath salts” and its variants to routine urine screenings, though it already has the ability to check for them in follow-on tests.

A breathalyzer pilot program started in May, with sailors and Marines tested randomly and in some cases when they report for work. Results will be evaluated, but a Navy spokesman said a program could roll out fleetwide as soon as possible.

In May, the Navy expanded screening for commonly abused prescription drugs. Now Vicodin and Xanax, also known as hydrocodones and benzodiazepines, can be detected in standard testing.

Mabus, a former ship officer and Mississippi governor, has said he wants to have the most mentally ready force in naval history. This move does not appear to be in response to on-duty or off-duty accidents related to drugs or alcohol.

“The new defense strategy will put increased responsibilities on the Navy and Marine Corps in the years to come,” Mabus said when he announced the program in March.

“You are the department’s most essential asset, and it is the duty of the department’s leadership to do all we can to provide each individual sailor and Marine with the resources to maintain that resiliency.”

The other armed services are following suit, to some degree. The Air Force launched random testing for fake pot compounds this spring, and the Army checks for them by request of commanders, according to the Military Times.

As synthetic drugs go in and out of vogue, the traditionally work-hard, play-hard military — full of 20-somethings entrusted with dangerous and precision machinery — has tried to adapt.

Spice was all the rage in 2009 and 2010, when it was still legal for civilians, and anybody could buy it at a tobacco shop. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made five fake-pot compounds controlled substances in March 2011, in an emergency ruling that spoke to their rapid emergence.

For troops, the allure was a “pot” high without the danger of ruining a career by getting caught in a routine urinalysis. Still, in San Diego, Navy investigators nabbed 60 sailors in October for using Spice.

Since March, the Navy has analyzed more than 3,300 urine samples for designer drugs, with 101 coming back positive, officials said this week.

Navy and Marine Corps officials said there is no specific data available for charges related to Spice or bath salt use. However, on the Navy side, 1,500 people were discharged for drug use of all kinds in fiscal 2011.

Nationally, bath salt use is on the rise. In 2010, 628 reports of the drug or its variants came into the National Forensic Laboratory Information System from 27 states. In 2009, there were 34 reports from eight states.

Navy doctors in San Diego say they began seeing the first patients high on bath salts about two years ago.

Lt. George Loeffler, a San Diego Naval Medical Center psychiatry resident, gave a recent talk about seven cases the Balboa Park hospital has treated. Its title, “Bath Salts: Emergence of an Epidemic.”

Seven active-duty men in their 20s were admitted to the hospital’s inpatient psychiatric ward between February 2010 and last July. They were high on cathinones, the active chemical in bath salts and related variants.

Most showed paranoia and thought they were hearing things. They were agitated and couldn’t do two simple tasks at one time. A few displayed tremors or facial ticks, were suicidal or had to be restrained.

“They are seeing things and hearing things and believing things that aren’t true. But they are also really distraught and angry about it. These are angry, angry people,” Loeffler said.

“That will go away generally within a couple days, as long as they are here and we’re treating them. But then what will happen, these paranoid delusions will linger on, and it doesn’t seem like we can do anything to treat those.”

One of the reported side effects is a strong compulsion toward regular use and binging, which has been dubbed “fiending.”

This new drug comes from an old source, the African plant Khat, which has long been chewed by people of the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula for the euphoria it causes. Drugmakers reproduced the chemical in the lab, and it emerged as a designer drug on British and European streets in the late 2000s.

It may have gained popularity as the club drug Ecstasy dropped off in purity. The high has been compared to a combination of an amphetamine’s stimulant effect and the body-glow feeling people report with Ecstasy.

Before the DEA outlawed three versions of the new drug in October, it was legally sold in head shops and even gas stations. The now-controlled chemicals are Mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone and Methylone. Besides bath salts, other street names include Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Ocean Snow, Vanilla Sky and Hurricane Charlie.

Most users snort the drug as a powder or swallow it in capsules. It can also be smoked or taken intravenously.

Doctors and law enforcement officials warn that while new designer drugs may be harder to detect in common tests, their newness also means no one knows the long-term effects.

The makers of these drugs are reportedly altering the content to skirt the DEA.

According to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service official, Naphyrone, a different synthetic cathinone chemical, has been used as the active ingredient in newer products going by “Glass Cleaner” and “Jewelry Cleaner.”